In the first episode of the podcast in 2024, I bring back Phil Fasso to discuss an actor he has always loved, Joseph Cotten. As we went through George Cukor’s “Gaslight”, Carol Reed’s “The Third Man”, and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt”, we get an idea of his full range as an actor, and […]
One of my favorite things in movies is when they show why a piece of music matters to a character. While a great soundtrack can help us figure out who a character is, when we see characters actively engage with music onscreen, that is a special thing for me. There are plenty of great examples […]
There are some pleasant surprises with the nominees for this year’s Georgia Film Critics Association awards, but also some not-so-pleasant snubs. There are still several I haven’t seen, though. Here are the nominees, what won, and my thoughts as a voting member. I hope you enjoy! This was a fairly impressive selection this year. 2023 […]
The excess of overspending on blockbusters and relying too much on audience goodwill for franchises, and not putting enough creative muscle in stories, finally caught up with Hollywood in 2023. This summer was a reckoning for studios on a number of fronts: first with the studios penny-pinching and disregard of creatives in the form of […]
This is the fourth year of “Repertory Revues,” and the 15th year since I started to watch older films over the month in an attempt to both broaden my cinematic horizons, as well as rewatching older favorites I wanted to write about, and it’s been increasingly difficult to keep up in the way I originally […]
To wrap up the 2023 season of the podcast, I’m pleased to bring a different type of guest for a different type of discussion. The subjects are the 1975 and 2004 adaptations of Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives. The guest bringing the discussion to the podcast is Ella Dawson, a culture critic, blogger and author […]
The last few months have been rough in terms of getting podcasts recorded- you’ll notice that November had no episodes released. The truth is, with my new work schedule, as well as my review schedule, it’s hard to watch stuff for the podcast as well. But I hope to get back in the habit for […]
In 2003, I had my first meetings with friends David Miles and Brendan Bushman about building Sonic Cinema. A year later, the first reviews went online; the year after that, hosting audio began, and my music and some of the Yahoos With a Microphone commentaries were online. This isn’t the first time I’ve been reflective […]
**Author’s Note: The following essay includes scenes from “Touch of Evil” to illustrate my words. These scenes not only include spoilers to the film, but one involves implied sexual assault. Orson Welles never stopped pushing cinema form forward after “Citizen Kane”– the problem was his resources got more and more scant, and his freedom more […]
**This podcast was recorded during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist. To close my October, I am so pleased to share this discussion. World cinema is important to look at as a way of exploring the breadth of cinema. Vietnamese cinema […]
Sonic Cinema Quick Thoughts
